Lamellar Pattern Research Articles

Stimuli-responsive Supramolecular Gels Based on the Self-Assembly of stigmasterol-ferrocene derivative

Small molecule gels with different stimuli responsiveness are endowed with different characteristics. Due to the reversibility of non-covalent bond forces and the adjustability of the self-assembly process, small molecule gels are widely used as an intelligent soft material prospect. Here, we designed and synthesized a novel gelator, stigmasteryl glycinate ferrocenoylamide (SGF), which uses plant sterols as raw materials and has multi-stimulus response performance. The gelation behavior of SGF was investigated in different solvents. The properties and mechanism of self-assembly of gels were characterized by SEM, UV-VIS, FT-IR, CAT and XRD. The intermolecular hydrogen bond nature of the gel formation and the lamellar aggregation pattern of SGF gel are revealed. Interestingly, SGF/cyclohexane gel shows excellent responsiveness to a variety of external stimuli such as temperature, thixotropic force and redox. In particular, SGF has a specific recognition ability for methanol.

An analytic theory for the symmetry breaking of growth-front in lamellar eutectic growth influenced by solid-solid anisotropy

We have presented an analytic theory to get a better understanding of lamellar eutectic growth with solid-solid anisotropy during directional solidification. Using an ansatz for an asymmetric profile of the growth-front, the solution for diffusion field is obtained (Valance et al., 1993). Imposing the Gibbs-Thomson condition, we derive a general expression for the tilt angle of surface tension force of the solid-solid interface with respect to the heat-flow direction. We found that the surface tension force of the solid-solid interface is generally not paralleled to the heat-flow direction, which indicates that the growth-front of eutectic lamellae deviates from the symmetric-pattern. Because the tilt angle of the surface tension force of the solid-solid interface is less than zero, the tilt angle of lamellar patterns is always less than the value predicted by the symmetric-pattern approximation (Akamatsu et al., 2012). An example where the tilt angle of surface tension force and lamellar patterns under a specific anisotropy function are calculated is presented. These results give a further understanding of lamellar eutectic growth with solid-solid anisotropy.

Controlling ice formation on gradient wettability surface for high-performance bioinspired materials.

Ice-templating holds promise to become a powerful technique to construct high-performance bioinspired materials. Both ice nucleation and growth during the freezing process are crucial for the final architecture of the ice-templated material. However, effective ways to control these two very important factors are still lacking. Here, we demonstrate that successive ice nucleation and preferential growth can be realized by introducing a wettability gradient on a cold finger. A bulk porous material with a long-range lamellar pattern was obtained using a linear gradient, yielding a high-performance, bulk nacre-mimetic composite with excellent strength and toughness after infiltration. In addition, cross-aligned and circular lamellar structures can be obtained by freeze-casting on surfaces modified with bilayer linear gradient and radial gradient, respectively, which are impossible to realize with conventional freeze-casting techniques. Our study highlights the potential of harnessing the rich designability of surface wettability patterns to build high-performance bulk materials with bioinspired complex architectures.

Design of cationic amphiphiles for generating self-assembled soft nanostructures, micelles and hydrogels

Design of amphiphiles to develop robust self-assembled soft nanomaterials, such as micelles and hydrogels is an interesting subject. A series of cationic amphiphilic compounds were synthesized comprising 1-ethoxy (3-pentadecyl) benzene as the hydrophobic tail. The second carbon of ethoxy was linked to quaternary head groups (trimethyl ammonium bromide (PEA), triethyl ammonium bromide (PETE), pyridinium bromide (PEPy), N-methyl morpholino bromide (PENM), N-methyl piperidine bromide (PENP)). Inclusion of benzene ring leads to a significant decrease in critical micellar concentration (CMC) as compared to other cationic surfactants, such as cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Interestingly, at higher concentration, these cationic amphiphiles were forming soft hydrogels with critical gelation concentration (CGC) from 3 to 10% (w/v). The small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis of xerogel revealed the formation of self-assembled lamellar patterns of molecules. Further, the morphology of xerogels were also seen under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) which correlates with SAXS data. The SAXS and SEM data confirms the formation of worm-like micellar structures and entangle themselves to form a hydrogel. The cytotoxicity assay was done on HDFA, HeLa and HEK cell lines, haemolysis assay showed better haemocompatibility than CTAB. The synthesized surfactants exhibited up to 3-fold higher solubilization capability against hydrophobic molecules than CTAB.

Toxic Effect of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles on the Lung of Adult Male Albino Rat and Possible Protective Role Of β-Carotene:Light and Electron microscopic study

Background: Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) are commonly used in cosmeceutical, biomedical, pharmaceutical and industrial fields but its adverse effects are also increasing alarmingly. β-Carotene is an antioxidant that can guard against the toxicity induced by TiO2 NPs.Aim of the Work: To study the histological alterations in the normal lung tissue of adult albino rats after administration of TiO2 NPs and to assess the potential protective effect of β-Carotene.Materials and Methods: four groups of adult male albino rats were used in this work; treated group received a dose of 300 mg/kg of TiO2 NPs was administered intraperitoneally daily for 14 days. Along with one protected group received 10mg/kg β-carotene by gavage for 7 days before and another 14 days with 300 mg/kg TiO2 NPs administration, in addition to one control group and one group received only β-carotene. Tissue samples from the lung were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and toluidine blue, ultrastructural study and morphometric analysis were also conducted.Results: The treated group revealed marked histological alterations appeared as vacuolated cytoplasm of pneumocytes type II and loss of lamellar bodies' characteristic pattern in addition to dilated congested pulmonary blood vessels. Morphometric results showed thickening of the interalveolar septa and increased numbers of macrophages and pneumocytes type II in comparison to the control group. In the protected group, β-Carotene co-administration with TiO2 NPs greatly preserved the normal lung structure.Conclusion: It can be concluded from this study that supplements of β-carotene can reduce the detrimental effect of TiO2 NPs on lung tissues via antioxidant mechanism.

Probing the Role of Bone Lamellar Patterns through Collagen Microarchitecture Mapping, Numerical Modeling, and 3D‐Printing

The fibrillar organization is crucial for the mechanics of osteonal bone and for its anisotropy. Different collagen fiber orientation (CFO) patterns are observed in bone and correlated to the main local loading, leading to the hypothesis that the fibers are preferentially aligned to bear specific loading types. A heterogeneous distribution of osteon morphotypes (OMs) is noticed in long bones, although the relationship between the OM spatial distribution and the local predominant loading is still unclear. This study aims to shed light on the reasons why Nature uses specific OMs in diverse stress‐dominated regions. A multimodal approach is adopted, including collagen fiber orientation mapping, numerical modeling of different OMs under tensile and compressive loading, and 3D‐printing of OM‐inspired samples, to unravel the relationship between different OMs and their mechanical behavior. Simulation results suggest a better performance of the vertical OM (VOM) under tensile loading and of the twisted OM (TOM) under compression, confirming earlier hypotheses. The outcomes of mechanical testing, conducted on 3D‐printed samples, highlight a possible buckling‐induced failure of fibers with preferential vertical orientation and provide evidence that OMs are stress‐tailored, opening new venues for the design of stress‐tuned bioinspired composites.

2D mesoporous atomic monolayers of phenyleneethynylene oligomers on pyrolytic graphite surfaces analyzed by scanning tunneling microscopy

We report on the scanning tunneling microscopy and small-wide angle X-ray scattering and diffraction of four linear and rigid π-conjugated p-phenyleneethynylene (PPE) oligomers. The four compounds possess two dodecanoxy side chains on the central PPE moiety, differ in conjugated length (3 and 5 phenyleneethynylene moieties) and are benzyl, Bz3PEBz, Bz5PEBz, or carboxylic acid, Ac3PEAc, Ac5PEAc, end-capped. We found that in the benzylbenzoate terminated oligomers, a staggered arrangement of molecules is obtained endorsed by the π-π interaction between the benzyls. In contrast, for the carboxylic acid terminated oligomers, a rather linear type arrangement is promoted by the hydrogen bond created between the carboxylic acid groups. In general, all of the molecules form a lamellar like pattern adopting face-on arrangements, where the conjugated backbones are flat-lying on the HOPG surface. The lamella length corresponds to the oligomer conjugation length, while within the lamellae, the calculated distances correspond to the spacing between conjugated backbones with an average value of 2.06 nm, consistent with that found by XRD, SAXS and DFT/def-SVP for the oligomers that self-assemble with the lateral alkyl chains interdigitated. The lack of more dodecanoxy side chains on the rest of the pheneyleneethynylene moieties gives rise to mesoporous type self-assembled monolayers on HOPG.

Understanding the atomistic deformation mechanisms of polycrystalline γ-TiAl under nanoindentation: Effect of lamellar structure

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to study the deformation behavior of polycrystalline γ-TiAl under nanoindentation. Effect of three different lamellar structure patterns is investigated respectively. Simulation results reveal that the lamellar samples are soft due to a dislocation-nucleation-controlled softening mechanism. Dislocations propagate along lamellar interface and experience no obstacle. Moreover, not only grain boundary (GB) but also lamellar interfaces can act as sliding interfaces, the additional sliding interface can also assist softening of lamellar samples. In addition, the different evolution processes of the three γ/γ interface variants are also investigated. Lamellar coarsening can be observed in the true-twin (TT) sample due to the direct migration and annihilation of TT interfaces. While the pseudo-twin (PT) and rotational-boundary (RB) interfaces cannot migrate directly but transform to each other at the origin interface planes, thus the origin lamellar spacing remains.

TEM investigation of the domain structure in PbHfO3 and PbZrO3 antiferroelectric perovskites

The domain structure is comprehensively investigated in the prototype antiferroelectric perovskite PbHfO3 using transmission electron microscopy. The antiparallel Pb-displacements, and the one {110}c-atomic-plane and four {110}c-atomic-plane (subscript c denotes the pseudo-cubic notation) polar translational boundaries within antiferroelectric domains are directly revealed. At the micrometer level, various antiferroelectric domain structures are observed and analyzed in PbHfO3, including the new “cloverleaf pattern” domain morphology. In another prototype antiferroelectric perovskite PbZrO3, antiferroelectric domains appear to favor the “lamellar pattern.” The combination of these two patterns makes even more complicated domain structures in PbZrO3.

Histochemical characterization of bone and cementum using modified gallego's iron fuschin stain and van gieson stain and its application in fibro-osseous lesions.

Fibro-osseous lesions (FOLs) of the jaws exhibit an overlapping histomorphologic spectrum with respect to nature of calcifications. Sometimes these calcifications may be difficult to characterize as bone and cementum on routine Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining. This causes difficulty in assessing the origin and diagnosis of these lesions. Thus the study aimed to characterize bone, cementum, and hard tissue components in FOLs using special stains. The study included a histochemical evaluation of 20 samples of bone and cementum and 12 cases each of fibrous dysplasia (FD) and ossifying fibroma (OF). Three consecutive sections of each tissue were stained with H and E, modified Gallego's iron fuschin stain and Van Gieson stain. H and E and modified Gallego's iron fuschin stained sections were analyzed under light microscope whereas Van Gieson stained section was analyzed under polarizing microscope. It was found that cementum stained red and bone stained greenish-yellow in color. The calcifications seen in fibrous dysplasia stained greenish-yellow in color. Three cases of OF showed greenish-yellow calcifications and nine cases showed reddish calcifications. Polarization study of bone showed lamellar pattern and tooth cementum showed quilt pattern. Four cases of FD showed lamellar pattern and eight cases showed haphazard pattern. In OF, three cases showed lamellar pattern and nine cases quilt pattern. Calcifications having lamellar pattern and greenish-yellow color suggest their osteogenic origin thus having aggressive nature and requiring aggressive treatment. Calcifications having quilt pattern and reddish color suggest periodontal ligament origin thus having less aggressive behavior and less extensive treatment.

Electrospun nanofibers with surface oriented lamellar patterns and their potential applications.

This work shows conclusively that lamellar surface patterns can be obtained with diverse ceramic compositions during electrospinning. The lamellar structure formation is governed by the creation of an outer shell during the thermal treatment of initially uniform cylindrical fibers, consisting of polymer and pre-ceramic compounds. By changing the polymer to pre-ceramic ratio in the electrospinning solution, we demonstrate for the first time a facile way to control the obtained surface structure and the orientation of the lamellas. Furthermore, the lamellar morphology was illustrated in seven different compositions. This report provides a new pathway to obtain unique surface patterns in metal-oxide nanofibers and demonstrates their utilization in different applications. Specifically, we demonstrate the prospect of utilizing Ni-Al-O fibers with lamellar structures as alternative Li-ion battery anodes. In addition, we show the potential of Fe-Al-O fibers as an effective catalyst material.

Eutectic solidification in Al-Ni for L-PBF conditions: a phase-field simulation study

Two-phase solidification microstructures of regular binary eutectic alloys are composed of lamellar or rod-like pattern. The corresponding characteristic length scale λ is the spacing between lamellae or rods and results from an interplay between lateral diffusion and capillary, i.e. interfacial curvature. The basic theory had been developed by Jackson and Hunt (JH) in the 1960’s and has been proven successfully for “slow” solidification. It leads to a scaling relation v⋅λ2=const. with v the growth velocity. In this work, we investigated eutectic solidification in Al-Ni for the faster growth rates in L-PBF processing by means of phase-field simulations. The consequences of the fast solidification on the deviation from the JH-scaling and the appearance of new features in the growth pattern are shown. Simulation results are confronted with microstructures seen in L-PBF build samples. Eventually, we discuss the opportunity to derive the local solidification speed from microstructure analysis.

In vivo optical biopsy of choroidal osteoma: a swept source optical coherence tomography-based tumor characterization.

Objective:To study tumor characteristics of choroidal osteoma by swept source optical coherence tomography.Methods:A retrospective case series done at tertiary referral center in northern India. All patients diagnosed with choroidal osteoma examined on swept source optical coherence tomography were included. Swept source optical coherence tomography images were analyzed for integrity of retinal layers—intraretinal layers, outer retinal layers (photoreceptor), retinal pigment epithelium, and contour abnormalities. Choroidal changes assessed were tumor attributes such as shape, depth of choroidal involvement, tumor mass reflectivity pattern, tumor vascularity, and evolutionary structural abnormalities such as deossification, focal depressions, or choroidal neovascular membrane.Results:A total of 15 eyes of 11 patients were analyzed. Seven of 11 patients were females. Mean age of presentation was approximately 26 years. Tumor was large in nine cases (>7.5 mm). Deossification was seen in 12 eyes. Inner and outer retinal integrity was maintained in 7 and 2 eyes, respectively. Most common internal tumor reflectivity pattern seen was a lamellar appearance (12/15). Increased signal transmission to choroid and focal area of deep excavation was present in 11 and 4 eyes, respectively. Osteoclastic activity was noted in 12 eyes. Choroidal neovascular membrane was seen in 6 eyes. Small lesions showed lamellar pattern of tumor reflectivity with preservation of retinal pigment epithelium and overlying retina. Larger tumors were deossified with 6 irregular tumor contour, disorganization of the outer retina, increased signal transmission to choroid, and areas of osteoclastic activity.Conclusion:Swept source optical coherence tomography was helpful in assessing tumor attributes and predicting the different timelines in tumor evolution.

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Objective To detect pathomorphological characteristics of the palmar aponeurosis in Dupuytren’s contracture in patients with liver disease. Material and methods The review included a medical record and histological findings of surgical specimen of a 60-year-old patient who underwent surgeries for Dupuytren’s contracture in 2016 and 2019 first on the right and then on the left side. Micropreparations of palmar aponeurosis stained with hematoxylin and eosin, Masson’s trichrome, using van Gieson and Hart methods were examined with light microscopy. Results Typical lamellar pattern in thickened pretendinous cord of the palmar aponeurosis was observed in surgical specimen of 2016 with flexion contracture at the metacarpophalangeal joints in IV-V digits of the right hand that developed 4 years after the first clinical signs of the palmar fascial fibromatosis. In 2019 the patient developed grade III–IV Dupuytren’s contracture at the metacarpophalangeal joints and the proximal interphalangeal joints in IV-V digits of the left hand. Active proliferative areas were observed in central parts of tendon resembling bands of digital fasciae with signs of fibrocartilaginous metaplasia and lipomatosis seen in the surgical specimen. Collagen fiber bundles were shown to intensively develop de novo at the periphery of the cords. Discussion Fibrocartilaginous metaplasia of dense Dupuytren’s connective tissue was described in single publications, and this is the first report on lipomatosis and collagen fiber bundles developed de novo. Conclusion Specific features of pathomorphology of fascial fibromatosis were likely to be associated with chronic hepatitis of unknown etiology.

Pattern formation mechanism of directionally-solidified MoSi2/Mo5Si3 eutectic by phase-field simulation

A phase-field study has been conducted to obtain an understanding of the formation mechanism of the script lamellar pattern of MoSi2/Mo5Si3 eutectic composite, which is a promising candidate for high-temperature structural application. The spacing of the lamellar pattern in the simulation results shows good agreement with that of experimental observations and analytical solutions under three growth velocities: 10 mm h−1, 50 mm h−1, and 100 mm h−1. The discontinuity of Mo5Si3 rods, in contrast to the regular eutectic with a continuous pattern, is claimed to be caused by the instability of the solid-liquid interface. In this study, the implementation of Mo5Si3 nucleation over the solid-liquid interface has been proposed and successfully reproduced the characteristic of discontinuity. A highly random and intersected lamellar pattern similar to that observed in the ternary MoSi2/Mo5Si3 eutectic alloyed with 0.1 at% Co has been obtained in simulation owing to the increase in the frequency of nucleation. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the inclination of the Mo5Si3 rod can be reproduced by taking into account the strong relaxation of lattice strain energy, which is generally considered to be negligible in eutectic reaction, as the result of the formation of ledge-terrace structure.

On the Growth Dynamics of Nearly-Locked Grain in the Three-Phase In-Bi-Sn Eutectic System

Solidification microstructures are significantly affected by the anisotropy of crystal/crystal interphase energy. A recent experimental work on a three-phase eutectic system by the authors suggested that two distinguishable eutectic grains, i.e., quasi-isotropic and locked, form when crystal/crystal interphase energies contain negligible and strong anisotropy, respectively (Mohagheghi and Şerefoglu in Acta Mater 2018, vol. 151, pp. 432–42, 2018). In two-phase eutectic systems, in addition to these two grain types, another class of eutectic grain called nearly-locked (NL) was reported. In order to investigate the existence of the NL grain in three-phase eutectic systems, real-time directional solidification (DS) and rotating directional solidification (RDS) experiments are performed on thin samples of In-Bi-Sn eutectic alloy. It is found that NL grains also form in three-phase eutectics and they contain some characteristic features of both quasi-isotropic and locked grains. The anisotropy is strong enough to tilt the lamellar pattern with respect to the thermal gradient axis, as in the case of locked grains; however, the NL grains also retain some of the characteristic features of the quasi-isotropic grains, such as λ-diffusion, systematic eutectic spacing adjustment, and recovery mechanisms. As a result, these grains tend to form a relatively uniform ABAC-type growth pattern, similar to quasi-isotropic grains. Using the equilibrium shapes extracted from the interphase traces of RDS patterns, the γ plot of the anisotropic interphase, which contains 2 twofold smooth and distinct minima, is determined.

A Rare Case of Ossifying Fibroma with Cystic Degeneration: Diagnostic Challenge with Literature Review.

Cystic degeneration can occur with various bone lesions. These non-epithelial lined cysts vary from aneurysmal bone cyst, solitary bone cyst or non specific cystic degeneration. In jaws, this association is not well documented. In literature only three cases have been reported as ossifying fibroma (OF) with cystic degeneration. This case appears to be the fourth case to highlight non specific cystic changes in OF. We report a case of OF in 23year old female with asymptomatic swelling over the left side of face for the past 3years involving the maxilla, maxillary sinus as well as nasal cavity. Histopathology revealed it to be OF complicated by non-specific cystic degeneration. OF of jaws is an odontogenic neoplasm arising from tooth bearing areas. It occurs more commonly in women in posterior mandible region. Microscopically it shows variable mixture of osteoid bone and basophilic acellular spherules while bony trabeculae frequently demonstrate both woven and lamellar patterns. Various pathogenesis have also been highlighted behind the cystic degeneration's in bony lesions. A review is also tabulated of OFs with cystic degenerations in the jaws reported in the past.

The possible radioprotective effects of vitamin E, Nigella sativa oil, and melatonin against X-ray induced early acute changes in cerebral and cerebellar cortices in Albino rats: Histological and Immunohistochemical study.

Background: Radiation induced brain and cerebellum injury is common in patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck tumors. Administration of antioxidants before radiation as vitamin E, nigella sativa oil and melatonin could be valuable in limiting this injury.Material and Methods: 40 rats were divided into five different groups. Group Ι: served as the control group and subdivided into 4subgroups. subroup Ia: negative control, subgroup Ib: animals received vitamin E only (300 mg/kg orally once, subgroup Ic: animals received nigella sativa oil only (1ml/kg orally once and subgroup Id: animals received melatonin only 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally once: Group ΙΙ: animals were exposed to x ray irradiation (XRI) (8 Gy whole body). Group ΙΙΙ: animals were pretreated with vitamin E (300 mg/kg orally once 1h before XRI. Group ΙV: animals were pretreated with nigella sativa oil(1ml/kg orally once1h before XRI). Group V: animals were pretreated with melatonin (100 mg/kg intraperitoneally once 1h before XRI). Animals were sacrificed 48h after irradiation. Brain and cerebellum were dissected, formalin fixed and processed for histological and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunostainig. The number of GFAP positive astrocytes were counted and statistically analyzed using SPSS program.Results: Radiation induced loss of lamellar pattern in the cerebral cortex with degeneration and necrosis of cortical nerve cells. In the cerebellum, purkinje cell degeneration was observed. Radiation induced a significant increase in the number of GFAP positive astrocytes in both cerebral and cererbellar cortices compared to the control group. In groups treated with vitamin E, nigella sativa oil and melatonin, there was partial improvement in cerebral and cerebellar changes with a significant decrease in the number of GFAP positive astrocytes.Conclusion: The use of antioxidants such as vitamin E, nigella and melatonin could limit radiation induced injury in brain and cerebellum.

Effect of ferro-elastic twin domains of LaAlO3 substrate on the magnetic anisotropy and the magnetization reversal process of cobalt thin film

Abstract Present work reports the effects of ferroelastic domains (FE) on the magnetic properties of top magnetic layer. Cobalt film of 15 nm is deposited using electron beam evaporation technique on single crystalline LaAlO 3 (0 0 1) (LAO) substrate which consists FE structural twin domains. LAO substrate is in-situ heated above its FE transition temperature and cooled to room temperature before depositing cobalt film of 15 nm. Textured growth of cobalt film is observed in-situ from reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns. The presence of FE structural twins in LAO substrate is confirmed from the X-ray reciprocal space mapping measurements. From the optical polarization microscopy, it is observed that the different regions consist different modulations viz., lamellar like and square-like structures in LAO substrate. The magnetic anisotropy and magnetization reversal is studied ex-situ using magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) microscopy with different spatial resolutions. The analysis of azimuthal variation of coercivity ( H C ) shows the superposition of two-, four- and six- fold anisotropy contribution at different regions of the sample. Twofold anisotropy and weak sixfold anisotropy may due to magneto-crystalline anisotropy, whereas the fourfold anisotropy might be coming because of square-like modulations of the substrate. Moreover, MOKE microscopy reveals the domain wall pinning along the twin boundaries (FE) due to which magnetization reversal is proceed by three distinct mechanisms when field is applied away from easy axis of magnetization and lamellar pattern. As a consequence of this, magnetization reversal proceeds by ‘labyrinth switching’ and abrupt magnetic domain wall switching within individual FE domains.

Enhanced microphase separation of thin films of low molecular weight block copolymer by the addition of an ionic liquid.

We report on the use of a selective, non-volatile ionic liquid (IL) to enhance the self-assembly via solvent annealing of a low molecular weight block copolymer (BCP) of styrene and 2-vinylpyridine (2VP) suitable for generating sub-10 nm features. Diblock and triblock copolymers of different molecular weights of styrene and 2VP are individually blended with the IL and then solvent annealed in acetone, a non-preferential solvent for the BCPs. Differential scanning calorimetry indicates that the IL selectively resides in the 2VP block of the BCP, resulting in a decrease of the block's Tg and an increase of the effective Flory-Huggins parameter (χeff) of the BCP. The influence of the IL on the non-preferential window of a random copolymer brush used to treat the substrate for self-assembly of the BCPs is also analyzed. Well-defined lamellar patterns form when the optimal weight ratio of IL (∼1%) is added to the BCPs. A detailed analysis of the orientational correlation length and pitch size of the BCPs quantitatively shows that the addition of the IL enhanced the microphase separation of the low molecular weight version of the BCP. Subsequent treatment of the self-assembled BCP with sequential infiltration synthesis yields sub-10 nm AlOx lines.